Comparison of whole blood, plasma and nails as monitors for the dietary intake of selenium

The measurement of dietary selenium intake in a free-living population using dietary recall techniques has been shown to be spurious. Consequently, in our laboratory, we have focused on the development of biologic monitors such as blood, nails, hair and urine. In this paper, we report on the neutron activation analysis of whole blood, plasma and nail specimens collected from 285 Caucasian subjects, all permanent residents of Hawaii, participating in a malignant melanoma trial. Correlations between monitors are presented and discussed in the context of selenium determinants and integration of selenium intake.